so what do you mean then ? that Canons programmer gives you better JPG out of camera than Nikons ?
And that you have tried the many different settings/parameters in both cameras and compared them ??
I do not follow you

Likewise about AF, tell me one person who have tested the AF against each others where all parameters are included and from different situations.
Its easy to generalize, but some are measurable and can be repetetley done of others